Charles Gardner In the Presence of Jesus

I have been asking you folks to pray for Austin Gardner’s father, Charles Gardner.  He was very close to death last night, and this morning at 12.55 AM (EST) he went on to be with the Lord.  Please continue to be in pray for the whole Gardner family.

Please Pray for My Pastor

I just spoke with my friend and pastor, Austin Gardner, who is in Tennessee with his father who is very close to death.  Please pray for the whole Gardner family at this time.  I cannot imagine what this must be like for them, but I would like to ask you to pray for them.  You read some updates on Pastor Gardner’s blog here.

Sunday Report

God gave us a great day yesterday!  I am so thankful for His goodness each and every day.  We had good crowds.  Four people from Holy Ground Baptist Church in Roopville, Georgia, were visiting us in Derry.  One young man made a profession of faith in Christ in Limavady last night.  We averaged more on Sunday morning and evening in both the church in Limavady and the church in Londonderry than we ever have since I have been at these two churches!  God is building His church one person at a time.

We looked at “Missed Opportunities” from Numbers 14 on yesterday morning.  I hope you read that chapter and meditate on how the failure of the people of Israel to believe God applies to your life.  In the evening, I preached on “Standing Between the Living and the Dead” from Numbers 16 and talked about how we can do that through going, praying, and giving and sending.

I am very excited about the next couple of weeks.  Please pray for Bro. Cosgrave as he comes on 1 November and for Bro. Gardner as he comes 3-8 November.  Pray for God bless and work in the meetings.

Great Victory Before Grave Sin

2 Samuel 10:18 “And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there.”

David is at a very triumphant and successful time in his life.  He is king of all Israel.  He has a very large and prosperous family.  He and his army are winning battle after battle.  God is blessing them, however, the verse above is only 4 verses before David commits adultery with Bathsheba.

The warning for us is: be careful in times of victory because those are prime opportunities for the attacks of Satan and indulgences of the flesh.

What happened that caused David to go from great victory to grave sin?  I am not sure of everything, but we do notice the following things:

1. David already had an underlying sin problem that he was not dealing with properly.  David had one wife Michal that was given to him by Saul (1 Samuel 18:27).  David, however, was not content with one wife.  He wanted more than one, so he also married Abigail (1 Samuel 25:42), Ahinoam (1 Samuel 27:3), Maachah (2 Samuel 3:3), Haggith (2 Samuel 3:4), Abital (2 Samuel 3:4), and Eglah (2 Samuel 3:5).  Clearly, even though God was using David, he was a man that had a lust problem that was not in control. 
2. David got comfortable and complacent.   2 Samuel 11:1 says that David tarried still at Jerusalem at the time that kings go forth to battle.  For some reason, David was not where he was supposed to be.  Maybe he got prideful and thought I don’t need to go out and lead my people.  Whatever caused it, David was not where he should have been.  He willingly stepped outside the boundaries of his position.  He was alone.  He had no accountability in his life.  No doubt, his walk with the Lord was suffering.  He was just taking it easy and asking for trouble.
3. David sinned greatly.  He saw, he looked, he took, and he brought great damage to him, his family, the entire kingdom, and most importantly the name of his God.

Let me warn myself and warn you.  Never get away from the basics of reading your Bible, confessing sin, being accountable, and walking with God daily.  Be especially wary in times of blessing and prosperity to not let your love for the Lord cool off.  Remember 1 Peter 5:8:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

7 Days Until Early Bird Registration Deadline for Summit

November 1 is the Early Bird Registration for the Our Generation Summit in Gatlinburg, TN.  Be sure to register this week to save $15 off of the price of registration.

If you are a college or university student, you will get $30 off if you register by December 5.  I hope you will make plans to come.  I believe we are going to have the best summit ever.  You won’t want to miss it! 

You will hear from men like Tony Howeth, who is tremendous inspiration every time he preaches.

October Update: Williams to Honduras

Here is an update from the Evan Williams family to Honduras:

Dear Supporting Pastors;

Well where do I start?  Since our last letter several things have been happening here, both good and not so good.

The good news is that two more students from our bible study group at the school for the blind came to Christ, one of which was Samuel, the young man who visited our home several weeks ago and who decided to think over his position before Christ.  Thank you for praying for him and praise our God with us that he did come through.  The other student, a 41 yr. old, said he had come to speak with me as he wanted to share that after one of our meetings, the previous week, he had returned to his room and had asked Christ to be his savior.  Rejoice with us that two more souls are ready for heaven.

The government here decided that they would close all public schools one month earlier than usual and as a result the school for the blind had to close it’s doors and send the pupils home last Friday.  This took everyone by surprise and we were not ready for their gift day when we were to give them their bibles.  They all understood and we have agreed that when they all come back next February 2010 we will hold the gift day for them.  I also asked if they would like to continue the studies, with out an incentive.  All sixteen students said that they would.  Praise God with us for this interest and pray with us that next year we might be able to restart a beginners class, for any new students that may want to study as well.

We are fast approaching the 1st. anniversary, as it was on the last Sunday in November 2008 that we began the work.  Unfortunately this year is election year and the voting day is the 29th and with the political unrest we have decided to put off our celebration until the second Sunday in December.  Pray for this as one of our Spanish speaking supporting pastors has agreed to be our speaker. The following Sunday, after that, we will be holding our very first Missions Conference, when we will be lunching our own faith Missions giving programme  with our congregation.  Pray with us as we prepare the hearts of our people and that God will truly bless these events.

I continue to work on the papers that I need to resubmit to the local township, for our proposed building.  Pray that I will get them all ready for the next council meeting during the first week in November.  Should they be approved then we will be moving to the next step which will be the approval from the historical society, should they agree to our propose building then we should have the go ahead from the township at their next council meeting in December.  Be remembering all this in your prayers.

Once more we do thank the Lord for you all and for your faithful support and prayers.  May the Lord bless each and every one of you.

This Sunday: Missionary Francis Cosgrave

 

I hope that you will make plans to be with us next Sunday, 1 November, to hear about the exciting work that God is doing in the Philippines among the Bajau Sea Gypsies with Missionary Francis Cosgrave and his family.

Bro. Francis will be preaching both services and showing a video of his ministry.  You will not want to miss meeting and hearing from this family!  Please make plans to come.

Tell It Not In Gath

2 Samuel 1:20 Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.

Saul, king of Israel, has just been killed by the Philistines.  A man comes and tells David, thinking David will be happy about this because it would clear the way for him to be king.  When David hears the news, he is heartbroken, not happy!  I want you to notice a couple of things from this passage.

1.  David had many reasons to be happy Saul had died.  Sauls death meant that the enemy that had been pursuing him for years was now dead.  Saul’s death meant David could now take the throne which God had promised him.  It meant Saul “got what he deserved” for treating David so unfairly all those years: chasing after him, trying to kill him,, giving his wife to another man, using him and then abusing him. 

2.  David had greater reasons to be sad.  Even though Saul treated him badly, he was still on the same team as David.  They were both Israelites; they both were part of God’s chosen people; they both claimed to serve the same God; and they both were fighting against the enemies of Israel.  A defeat for Saul was a defeat for God’s people, and a defeat for God’s people was a defeat for David.  David was very upset because he knew that this would reflect badly on the Lord’s name, and the glory of God was bigger to David than his own personal grievances.

3. David did not want his brother’s failures to be broadcast.  He told them, “Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon.”  Gath and Askelon were Philistine cities.  David did not want the Philistines to find out so they would not rejoice and think they had won over God’s people. 

Often times, we Christians forget that we are on the same team.  We begin fight against one another.  We may even rejoice when we hear of another church, preacher, or Christian failing because we “think” this will make us look better.  The truth is: any failure of a Christian is a our failure, any defeat of another Christian is our defeat, and any victory of our brother is our victory.  We should rejoice when they rejoice and mourn when they mourn.  If we love our brother, we will not exalt their failures and sins;  we will cover them. 

1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

How have we been doing?  Are we inwardly happy when another brother stumbles?  Do we magnify the faults of others or do we, in love, cover them so that sinners will not rejoice at another Christian who has failed?

Don’t Forget to Set Your Clocks Back!

I look forward to seeing all of you in the morning.  Please pray for me as I preach that God will use me.  The next couple of weeks are very important in the life of our church, and it is crucial that we be seeking the Lord and prayed up.

Tonight is the night we set our clocks back one hour!  Don’t forget!

Master Clubs Development Day

Saturday, 24 October (2-4 PM)
@ Roe Valley Baptist Church (Limavady)

For all those who work in the Master Clubs programme or would like to help out, there is a Master Clubs Development Day in Limavady on tomorrow.

Master Clubs is a tremendous tool that God is using to reach the lost and grow people.  I hope that you will pray for this ministry, for David Laverty as he directs it, and for all the workers.  If you want to find out more about the programme, go to www.northwestbc.com/mc.html.